Monday 20 June 2011

The world´s first Reaganites

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."

Ronald Reagan´s views about government are still very much to the point, and perhaps even more so than during his own time. There seems to be a tendency towards ever growing government bureacracy in the world in general, and in Europe in particular. The "ever closer integration" has lead to a huge unelected bureaucracy, effectively taking the command in the European Union. Formally the heads of state or the ministers of the member states are still supposed to make the most important decisions, but because there can be no real discussion between 27 - and soon probably more - disparate members, the unelected bureaucrats - the eurocrats - have in reality usurped much of the power that is supposed to belong to the states.

The political leaders are all aware of the bureaucrats´ power grab, but they do not want to admit it in order not to appear weak or dumb, in front of the voters and even their colleagues. Thus, what we have in Brussels, is a mega version of "Yes, Minister", the classical British television series, which so well described the realities behind the scenes.

One can only hope that there will be more Ronald Reagans in the future, both in Europe and elsewhere - politicans who are not afraid to challenge the seemingly ever growing bureacracy, even if it means real decentralisation and a smaller role for politicians and parties in general.

It is quite possible to create extremely succesful communities with much less government control - and even without any central control at all. Ask the ants, who have managed to do it with great succes for millions of years:

Ant colonies operate without central control; there is no one in charge and no ant directs the behavior of others. Colonies perform many tasks including foraging, nest construction, and care of the young. Task allocation is the process that adjusts the numbers of workers performing each task, according to the current situation.

The quote is from the introduction to this fascinating lecture given by Dr. Deborah Gordon, one of the leading authorities on ant behaviour in the world:




PS

Maybe the secret behind the success of ants is that they have intuitively understood the truth in the two Reagan quotes above.  They have also managed to adapt to much worse global warming than even the worst IPCC scaremongers are trying to peddle. 

For a look at the life of a live ant colony at work, check out  this site at the University of Turku in Finland. (During the night hours, they seem to put out the light)
Recommended viewing for all the world´s politicians and bureacrats, particularly the members of the European Commission!

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